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Chapter 15 Notes (Civil War)
'- Chapter 15 Notes - Civil War' Originally written by Thomas Heissenberger. Please edit this as you see fit. I can not guarantee 100% accuracy. Please use these for study purposes only, not to complete homework. Remember, reading and writing (in other words; processing the information), is the best way to learn and understand the subject. Reading notes will help you understand the general picture but reading details within the book will also help you find small details that might be on the multiple choice questions. However, all posted notes will have greater detail than average homework notes. Recruitment and Conscription * Over 2 million serve in the Union and 800,000 in Confederacy. * Confederates enacted first conscription law ever in the US, Southerners get angry over law. * South relied heavily on imported weapons / supplies while the North had it easier because they were industrialized. Financing the War * Both sides began to print money. Lincoln signs Legal Tender Act, $150 mil. * Confederates paper money had lost value due to loss of trust in paper money ** Extremely high inflation for south ** Respond by printing more paper money (1 Billion dollars) ** Inflation @ 9000% original worth value. Political Leaders * Jefferson David is the confederate president. ** Jeff has terrible relation with his Vice President Alexander Stephens * Lincoln is Northern president ** Has troubling relations with the republican party which leads to the forming of radical republican groups. Securing the Union Borders * Lincoln mobilizes Northern army to capture Middle US border states, states that were along the South. Armies, Weapons and Strategies * North was better supplied, had a railroad, were industrlized but had long and vulnerable supply lines. * New rifles changed army strategies, rifles from Europe featured rifling which was more accurate over smoothbore muskets. * Lincoln from the North wanted the Union to execute a clean, synchronized, Blitzkrieg like push into the South along the Coast to block all trade out to the Atlantic for them. This is known as the Anaconda Plan Stalemate in the East * Battle of Bullrun (Manassas), Virginia ** Confederates win, was a big battle near Washington DC involving Lee and McDowell with McDowell losing and returning to DC. * Lincoln changes around generals (McDowell due to defeat) ** Lincoln picked McClellan. *** McClellan was a experienced general that served with distinction in the Mexican American War and mastered administration skills by being a railroad manager. *** His soldiers really liked him, he could effectively take a rag tag mob any group and make them effective soldiers. ** Lincoln believed victory lay in clean and ** McClellan commits Peninsula Campaign *** Gets 100,000 troops, siege Yorktown, goes smooth *** Heads to Richmond, big hesitation and trouble ****Overestimates Confederate strength, refuses to commit final attack because he wanted more soldiers. ****Confederate infamous Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson fights off Union ****Union loses, returns. Confederates boldly head North thinking they got McClellan out of the picture *** Headed to Fredericksburg, **** Skirmishes with Lee, Fredericksburg, McClellan outmaneuvers. *** Battle of Antietam **** McClellan outflanks, bloodiest day of the Civil War. **** 24,000 casualties. ** Lincoln replaces McClellan with Burnside. War in the West * Grant holding border near Kentucky. * Effectively holds the line and wins all battles. General Bragg on retreat ** Battle of Shiloh - Union wins ** Grant goes to Memphis, then Vicksburg. * Farragut, a Union general lands in Louisiana, wins all battles. Heads up to meet Grant. The Soldiers' War * Soldiers on both sides viewed serving in army as honor and some craved it. This glory idea died out fast. ** Weak military training for those militias. Trained army soldiers were the backbones and often re enrolled in the Army. ** Food problem for both sides, especially North cause North relied on Southern food. *Motives of the soldiers fighting varied, most Union soldiers believed in fighting to keep the Union together, not Slavery. ** We had a Précis writing on this topic, you should know this easily Ironclads and Cruisers: The Naval War * North had warships, south did not. ** Ships could penetrate Southern river system from multiple directions. ** The Anaconda plan was seeming to be to daunting, South had 'borderjumpers' ** North responds by out rigging more ships. * South had only naval advantage on the high seas ** Their ships raided merchant shipping The Diplomatic War * South wanted European countries to recognize their independence ** Send emissaries to Britain and France but the emissary ship was captured by Union *** British mad as f-!, Massive affair known as Trent Affair ** All diplomacy plans fail, they overestimated their "King Cotton" diplomacy effectiveness. *** Britain weans off of Southern cotton, finds new suppliers Confiscation to Emancipation * Slave Issues among the North and Opinion. ** Confiscation Act allows Union to use seized supplies and slaves for aiding war. ** Lincoln approaches this topic carefully, because he claimed constitution still applied for the South. ** Radical Republicans pushed Lincoln to address the slaves freedom * Second Confiscation Act passed, 1862 **Allowed Union to use Black soldiers ** Lincoln still stalled the issue, he knew it would be a problem. *** Claimed the fighting was for the Union itself, not to save or destroy slavery. *** Was an issue among Union soldiers and their belief of purpose for fighting. * Lincoln loathed (disliked) slavery, finally issues Emancipation Proclamation , 1863 ** Declares all slaves under rebel control free ** Shitstorm with Union soldiers, feel lost purpose. Crossing Union Lines * Congress creates Freedmen's Bureau ** Helps educate, relive and aid former slaves ** Slaves used as spies for the Union. Black Soldiers in the Union Army * 186,000 blacks served in Union army by the end of war. (1/10th) * Most Union soldiers didn't like them * Blacks had higher casualties than whites...wonder why? ** Posted on labor or guard duties mostly ** Suffered from illnesses instead of actual combat * Underpaid, $16 vs $10 Turning point for war * Both sides keep fighting, South pushes, North has trouble at the start of the next year. * Battle of Gettysburg ** Union victory * Grant punches through southern stronghold, Battle of Vicksburg. Big strategic victory. * Union chase Confederates out of Tennessee, Battle of Chickamauga, another very severe battle. ** Grant comes, reinforces, further smashes through Confederates. The War's Economic Impact: North * Cotton factories north fail * Railroad booms * Republicans pass Homestead Act, 1862. ** Grants 160 acres to settlers after 5 years residence. * Republicans also pass Morrill Land Grant Act ** Gave states land for Universities * Prospectors got rich after war ** Gold had higher value, paper value declined. * Ordinary Americans suffered ** Tariffs ** Poor wages ** Women introduced to gov't jobs Wars Economic Impact: South * Destroyed South economy! * South railroad system torn up * Agriculture shortage ** South traded food with the North Dealing with Dissent Note Dissent means a difference of feeling or opinion * Mounting dissent, causes problems with loyalty among troops * Trouble with government power (especially executive branch) and enforcing of regulations ** Chaos over certain issues (primarily racial, political, ethnic classes/dissent) *** New York city draft riots (most violent of all, lynched blacks, burned draft houses) *** Troops dispatched by Lincoln to suppress riots ** Jefferson Davis used his express political powers lightly, always hesitated. ** Lincoln used his power ways more than Davis. * South traded with North via crops. ** Cause morale issues among Southern troops. Medical War * Civilians (mostly women) were engrossed in the war to help fight, very patriotic ** US Sanitary Commission formed for Union, female nurses used. *** Hey, guess who? Dorothea Dix returns, she was the head of the Union's nursing corps. ** South also had women nurses on a equal scale * Prison camps were problematic, both sides had large amounts of prisoners ** Horrible / Miserable conditions (Run down, very bad, probably the equivalent of Russian WW2 prison camps.) ** South had HORRIBLE prison camps, in fact death among them was so high they were called Death camps which are camps that are made to kill their prisoners. (3,000 died per month at camps) *** Caused outrage after war with North War and Women's Rights * Women jobs exploded, government jobs opened to females as well. * Anna E. Dickinson was a good public speaker on female rights, republicans beg her to campaign. * Did women gain any new rights after the war? ** No, women's rights were still in a deadlock. Northern politicians did not see any interest over women suffrage. Eastern Theater, 1864 * Lincoln lets Grant take control of all armies (Grant was trucking through Confederate lines) ** Grant continues his push, INFAMOUS General Sherman makes his push into the South and really messes things up, burning towns, pace of war quickens. * Battle of the Wilderness, pretty serious battle. One of the war's fiercest ** While Grant and Lee fight each other at this battle, Sherman is making his infamous push into the South. * Battle of Coldharbor, extremely serious, Grant loses 7,000 men in 1 hour. * Jeff Davis is mad at conf. gen. Johnston who wanted to retreat, Hood takes over attacks Sherman, fails and retreats out of Atlanta. Sherman marches in Election of 1864 * Because of Sherman marching like a badass through the south, it saves Lincoln's presidency. ** Lincoln gets 55% of pop vote and 218 of 233 electoral votes (A instant sweep) Sherman's infamous March through Georgia Sherman decides to plow through South, leave his supply line, soldiers live off countryside supplies. He starts off in Tennessee, heads south east to Georgia coast (Savannah), then goes north into SC. * Sherman starts off towards Savannah, Georgia ** Sherman showed the South real war, and how horrible it was, he did it in the most effective and terrifying way possible. Believed the South did not know the truths about war. ** He burns almost all of ATLANTA! * Sherman heads w/ 65,000 soldiers toward Savannah, Georgia. ** Destroy everything, burned anything that could help the south fight. (arsenals, crops, railroads, cotton stores, etc.) Makes a path of destruction 65 miles wide. ** Told not to wreck civilian property (lol, what a joke, he did that too partially since it was part of his strategy.) * After Savannah, he heads north into South Carolina. ** He hated South Carolina the most (guess what he does) Total Appomattox * Virginia was still a tough nut to crack. * Battle of Petersburg (takes place as Sherman is marching into South Carolina) ** Grant outflanks Lee, Richmond falls ** Jefferson Davis skips town. * Lee tries to reorganize by heading to Lynchburg, Grant and Sheridan cut him off in record time. ** Lee surrenders @ Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. * Celebration ** Lincoln invites Grant to theater (Fords Theater) on April 14th, Grant turns down. *** Lincoln shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth, Wilkes escapes with broken leg. Booth's accomplice stabs Sec of State but he survives. ** Union soldiers hunt for Booth, shoot him dead, all other accomplices were hanged or killed. Importance of the War * It was the worst war we ever fought, and we fought it among ourselves. * 620,000 died. (Imagine half of everyone in New Hampshire dyeing) ** 2x times as many soldiers that died in WW2. * South had bad economic situation, but Northern advances covered for them. ** Reinforced our country, Government and politics, slavery abolished. 3.5 million Slaves freed. Category:Chapter Notes